Liverpool stay on top with nervy win over Leicester
LONDON: Liverpool beat Leicester City 2-1 to post a fourth successive Premier League victory but conceded their first goal of the season after a nightmare mistake by new keeper Alisson at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
With Liverpool two goals up and cruising, the Brazilian opted for clever footwork instead of simply clearing his lines and was robbed of the ball by Kelechi Iheanacho, who centred for Algerian Rachid Ghezzal.
Last week Alisson was praised for a piece of neat footwork against Brighton but this unnecessary mistake, prompted by a poor backpass from Virgil van Dyke, brought back instant memories of Loris Karius’s errors in the Champions League final.
Both Liverpool goals came before the break with Sadio Mane bagging his fourth goal of the season after good work from Andrew Robertson, and Roberto Firmino converting a James Milner corner on the halftime whistle.
The visitors started the second half sloppily, though, and, with Leicester threatening to grab another goal, a concerned Juergen Klopp even brought on Xherdan Shaqiri for last season’s record scorer Mo Salah, who had missed one easy chance but looked surprised to be taken off.
Despite their defeat, Leicester impressed and had more possession and shots on target than Liverpool. James Maddison was always a handful and the home side were unfortunate to end the game without a point as Liverpool go into the international break on the back of their best start to a season since 1990.
“There’s a long way to go,” said Liverpool’s James Milner, whose side are top of the table ahead of Saturday’s later kickoffs. “It wasn’t a good performance from us but sometimes you have to win ugly and we did that today.
“I don’t think anyone has hit their top gear yet.” Leicester’s Maddison said they were extremely disappointed because “we had Liverpool where we wanted them”.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, though, said he expected a blunder from Becker, but hopes the Brazilian number one will continue to perform well.
CHELSEA CONTINUE WINNING STREAK
LONDON: Chelsea stretched their perfect Premier League start to four games after second-half goals from substitute Pedro Rodriguez and Eden Hazard gave them a 2-0 home win over Bournemouth on Saturday.
New manager Maurizio Sarri will be purring after seeing his side break down the visitors in the closing stages with a clinical performance after they had been stifled by stubborn defending for much of the contest.
Hazard, who ran the show for Chelsea with darting raids and neat footwork before he sealed the match with an arrowed shot from eight metres in the 85th minute, was delighted.
“We were always confident we would score,” the Belgium forward told the BBC. “When you’re playing like that you have to be patient. We did well to keep the ball and move it quickly because STANDINGS Team P
4 4 4 3 3
W
4 4 3 3 3
D
0 0 1 0 0
L
0 0 0 0 0
GD
8 7 8 6 5 PTS 12 12 10 9 9
we were too slow in the first half. “I’m feeling confident, I’m enjoying my football, we have a new manager and lots of good players.” The result left Chelsea joint top with Liverpool on a maximum 12 points, with either Watford or Tottenham Hotspur able to move level with the early pacesetters when they meet at Vicarage Road on Sunday.
The home team dominated a dour first half at Stamford Bridge but it was Bournemouth who missed the best chance in the opening period through Callum Wilson before Marcos Alonso hit the post at the other end.
Chelsea’s former centre back Nathan Ake skied his shot from three metres over the bar on the hour and that seemed to be a wake-up call for the hosts, who struggled despite having the lion’s share of the possession.
Pedro finally broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute after a fine one-two with fellow substitute Olivier Giroud and a low shot from the edge of the penalty area which gave visiting keeper Asmir Begovic no chance.